As one of the six finalists for the Independent MBA Student of the Year Award, I was invited to attend a face-to-face interview with the Judges on 28 January 2016 at the Association of MBAs (AMBA) offices in London. I was already honoured by the nomination from UCD Smurfit, but it was so exciting to be a finalist as well!
Seriously, after a year on the Full-Time MBA and six months diving head first into the Irish start-ups scene, I never stopped to think about the year! Last week was a great opportunity for me to reflect on everything that I was able to accomplish with my cohort. From re-establishing the Social Outreach Society’s mission and vision, creating and fostering a more collaborative experience, and translating our learning into action that adds value it was a hectic and crazy year that I’d happily do all over again.
So after the intense 30 minutes of interviews, we then attended the MBA Gala & Awards 2015 at The Langham Hotel the following evening. We all had a lovely dinner and great speeches preceded the highly anticipated awards: The Independent MBA Student of the Year Award, MBA Innovation Award, and MBA Entrepreneurial Venture Award.
As a quick recap – the purpose of the Gala Dinner is “to recognise the talents and contributions made by accredited schools and their students to the MBA arena and the wider community, AMBA presents three annual awards to outstanding business schools, start-ups with MBA founders and MBA students who represent the true value of accredited MBA programmes.”
It all happened so fast as I was pretty nervous standing there with my fellow nominees who are equally amazing and impressive! Thank you to the Judges, AMBA, and The Independent for their consideration as well as Orla, Michael, and the Smurfit MBA Programme Office for their support! I am very pleased for the recognition as ‘Highly Commended Nominee’ with my fellow runner-ups! Congratulations to ALL finalists!
Lindsey Nguyen ~ Full-Time MBA Class of 2015